(a) Prior to September 1, 1997, and on or before September 1,
of each succeeding year, each law-enforcement agency which has
unclaimed stolen property in its possession shall file an unclaimed
stolen property report with the treasurer which identifies all
unclaimed stolen property in its possession at the time the report
is filed.

(b) An unclaimed stolen property report shall include the
following information with respect to all unclaimed stolen property
in the possession of the law-enforcement agency filing it:

(1) A description of each item;

(2) An estimated value for each item;

(3) Whether any nonprofit organization has requested that any
item be donated to it and whether any nonprofit organization might
be considered to receive the item as a donation;

(4) Whether the law-enforcement agency could use the item for
any legitimate and authorized law enforcement or educational
purpose;

(5) The chief executive’s recommendation for the disposition
of each item; and

(6) If any unclaimed stolen property in the law-enforcement
agency’s possession consists of firearms or ammunition, the chief
executive’s determination of whether the firearms or ammunition are
of a sufficient quality to be traded in on new weapons or
ammunition for the law-enforcement agency or appropriated for the
law-enforcement agency’s use.a description of the best efforts
used by the chief executive to determine if the firearm has been
lost by, stolen, or otherwise unlawfully obtained from an innocent
owner or its disposition by public auction or otherwise required by
section five of this article.

§36-8A-3. Treasurer’s response to unclaimed stolen property report.

Within thirty days of the receipt of an unclaimed stolen
property report, the treasurer shall send a response to the law-enforcement agency submitting it. For each item identified in the
unclaimed stolen property report except firearms and ammunition
which the chief executive determined to be of sufficient quality to
trade in on new weapons or ammunition or to appropriate for the
law-enforcement agency’s use, the treasurer shall either require
that it be delivered to the treasurer, authorize the law-enforcement agency to sell it at a public sale, authorize the
law-enforcement agency to donate it to a nonprofit organization,
authorize the law-enforcement agency to use it for any legitimate
and authorized law enforcement or educational purpose, or authorize
the law-enforcement agency either to sell it at a public sale, to
donate it to a nonprofit organization, or to use it for any
legitimate and authorized law enforcement or educational purpose.
However, the treasurer may not authorize the law-enforcement agency
to sell or donate any firearms or ammunition. If the treasurer
determines that any item identified in an unclaimed stolen property
report is of such value that it should be processed by the
treasurer’s office, the treasurer shall have the authority to
require that the item be delivered to the treasurer.

§36-8A-5. Regarding the disposition of firearms in state custody.

(a) If the chief executive determined in the law-enforcement
agency’s unclaimed stolen property report that any firearms or
ammunition in the law-enforcement agency’s possession are not of a
sufficient quality to be traded in on new weapons or ammunition for
the agency or appropriated for the agency’s use, the chief
executive shall cause the firearms or ammunition to be delivered to
the treasurer for destruction.

(b) If the chief executive determined in the law-enforcement
agency’s unclaimed stolen property report that any firearms or
ammunition in the law-enforcement agency’s possession are of a
sufficient quality to be traded in on new weapons or ammunition for
the agency or appropriated for the agency’s use, the chief
executive shall cause the firearms or ammunition to be traded in on
new weapons or ammunition or appropriated for the agency’s use.
After any trade-in or appropriation under this subsection, the
law-enforcement agency shall file a report with the treasurer and
the state Tax Department on the trade-in or appropriation.

(a) Subject to the duty to return firearms to innocent owners
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, all firearms, as
defined in section two, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this
code, that are forfeited or abandoned to any law-enforcement agency
of this state or a political subdivision of this state, including
the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, or that are
otherwise acquired by the state or a political subdivision of the
state and are no longer needed, shall be transferred to the West
Virginia State Police for disposal as provided in this section.

(b) Prior to the disposal of any firearm that has been
forfeited or abandoned to the state, the State Police shall use
best efforts to determine if the firearm has been lost by, stolen,
or otherwise unlawfully obtained from an innocent owner, and if so,
shall return the firearm to its innocent owner, if ascertainable,
unless that person is ineligible to receive or possess a firearm
under state or federal law.

(c) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (d), the State
Police shall dispose of the firearms that it receives under
subsection (a) by sale at public auction to persons licensed as
firearms collectors, dealers, importers, or manufacturers under the
provisions of 18 U.S.C. §§921 et seq. and authorized to receive
firearms under the terms of their license.

(1) The auctions required by this subsection may occur online
on a rolling basis or at live events but in no event may occur less
frequently than once every three months.

(2) The department shall retain only the net proceeds
necessary to cover the costs of administering this section, with
any surplus to be transferred to the school fund for the purpose of
offsetting the price of new textbooks or instructional software for
students or for the implementation of the physical education
curriculum: Provided, That an agency may be reimbursed for any
decommissioned firearms formerly in use by the agency that are sold
under this section.

(3) Employees of the State Police or of the agency from which
the firearms are received are not eligible to bid on the firearms
at an auction conducted under this section.

(d) The requirements of subsection (c) do not apply to a
firearm that the Superintendent of the State Police or his or her
designee certifies is unsafe for use because of wear, damage, age,
or modification, and any such firearm shall at the discretion of
the superintendent be transferred to the State Police forensic
laboratory for training or experimental purposes or to a museum or
historical society or be destroyed.

(e) The State Police shall keep records of all firearms
acquired and disposed of under the provisions of this section, as
well as the net proceeds of the sales and the disbursement of such
proceeds, and shall maintain these records for not less than ten
years from the date on which a firearm is disposed of or on which
a disbursement of funds is made, as the case may be.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require West Virginia
law-enforcement agencies to return forfeited or abandoned firearms
to their lawful and legal owners. This would also require them to
make all available efforts to make available for sale the firearm
in question to licensed individual dealers.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.